Superhero League of Hoboken

Not spoiling a thing here, go get this game!! Still have its CD and manual stored somewhere. It's one of the most funny games I ever played. It's an interesting mix of RPG with Adventure (in some scenes you can interact/use commands with some parts) and a ton of humor everywhere, including hilarious names (alliterations!!), sometimes with matching powers (except for Captain Excitement). I wonder what the game developers were drinking when they came to the heroes' powers, wacky names but useful everywhere, including for solving puzzles. As I said, go get this game!!

Gameplay is straight forward: a turn-based RPG with point&click adventure elements. You move on a static 2D world map, where each step may trigger a random encounter (fight). Some fields hold special locations, like a village, that make the game switch to a still image that may require you to solve some puzzles or allow you to purchase equipment. The puzzles are usually simple, but not always rooted in logic--there are several points in the game where you may find yourself wandering around aimlessly to retrieve "something" you need to finish a quest without any indication what to look for or where to find it (in one case, it is a rare random drop in a random encounter.) Be warned that you are almost certain to consult a walkthrough at one point or another. The implemented RPG elements, the fights and the adventure elements are all rudimentary. Where the game truly shines is its humor. However, said humor is a bit of a hit or miss as it is very localized and centered around the New York area. It feels a lot like a game made by Americans for Americans. Starting with the names and descriptions of your enemies, the maps, the locations, the events, the quests, the references to American VIPs, up to some mildly offensive content: Poking fun at foreign nationalities in general and Canadians in particular, minorities, stereotypical display of women, and a notable absense of any people of color. Ergo, if you feel offended by these issues, you may want to avoid this game. As a non-American, I picked this up due to the numerous 5-star reviews. However, when you have not grown up with any of the things the game doesn't get tired to mention and make fun of, it is easy to miss much of the understated humor. Without the prerequisite background knowledge, a lot is lost in translation and the gameplay by itself is not enough to make this game an instant must-buy.

I've played many an old game back in their day, but getting into an old game that I never played in it's day has been an extremely rare occurrence. This one is well worth it. It's a bit like Fallout in setting, and really being superheroes in a post apocalypse is weird and funny, somewhat like the Mechanist vs. the Ant-agonist. I think they would've been better leading with it was post-apoc. It's a strange mash-up, but it works for it. The combat plays like a jrpg, it's not with a tactical map. The combat hasn't been difficult so far, I've not lost and had to reload ever, and you can rest and everyone fully recovers as long as one of your party survives. There's some puzzles you need to solve to finish missions, they aren't particularly hard, and that comes from someone who generally hates computer game puzzles. Some items to do so aren't available until you stumble upon their location - there's no pointers to where they are, so you have to do exploration. Yes there's a lot of modern conveniences I miss, but it's not bad. The humor is along the lines of Garbage Pail Kids cards & Toxic Avenger if you're familiar with those. I enjoy it.

I wonder how I could miss this game when it was first released. Maybe because I don't care much for games that try to be funny, but this one is an exception, because it gets all of the other elements right, and the post-apocalyptical world portrayed here really comes to life. SHLH is simple to pick up, even of one does not bother to read the manual (which makes things easier, and also teaches one how to use the keyboard for fast and intuitive control of the game). Puzzles are sometimes a but hard, but consistent with the game world. No moon logic anywhere. Took me about 18-20hrs to complete.

It was developed with the engine Legend used in games like Companions of Xanth or Death Gate. But this time the game is a peculiar mix of a first person point and click game and a RPG with combat in the vein of Might an Magic or Dragon Quest. The game is silly and it wants to be in that way. It is a pure parody that does not take itself too seriously but the result is a very well designed game, fun, lighthearted, smooth and a bit alien. The game is pretty US focused, US jokes, local pop culture. The interface is not as bad as it can be at first sight, just a bit outdated, all is pretty polished for those who already tried previous Legends graphic adventures. I like a lot the engine Legend used in those games. You have a lot of freedom to navigate at will in an open world postapocaliptic New York leading a band of absurd superheroes with absurd weapons and powers, fight random and fixed battles and choosing missions in the order you want. In some places the game is turned in a traditional Legend first person adventure game where you solve puzzles, use objects, seach for tools. And all is more familiar. This kind of mix was risky and it could have became a pure mess, and me, for years ignored this game not interested in those experiments. But the game is very good, fun and unique. Maybe later Shannara made something similar mixing a point and click adventure and light RPG.